1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method for recording information, such as video and audio signals, to and reproducing such information from a recording medium contained in and/or removably fitted to the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many video recording/reproduction apparatuses (video recorders) are adapted to use a hard disc as a recording medium (video medium) so as to record and accumulate broadcast television programs there. Since a hard disc has a recording capacity that is in the range from 80 GB to 250 GB and hence by far larger than an optical disc, the user is not required to mind the free space left in the hard disc when recording television programs. For example, a hard disc with a recording capacity of 250 GB can be used to record signals maximally for about 325 hours (in an SLP mode).
When reproducing a recorded program, the user can have a list of the titles of the recorded programs displayed on a monitor screen as an image and select the program he or she wants to watch by operating a remote control unit. Then, the program is reproduced from the hard disc by the video recorder.
When the family members of the user share a single video recorder that uses a video medium, such as a hard disc, an optical disc or a video tape, there may be cases where two or more than two family members want to record a same television program. In such a case, the family members who want to record the program generally do not operate the video recorder separately to record the program on the video medium but record it on the video medium by a single operation.
Particularly, when the video medium can be used repeatedly for recording programs, the family members who have already enjoyed the program may want to erase it. However, then there arises a problem that it is not clear if all the family members who want to watch the program have already enjoyed it or not.
To date, there are three ways that can be used to resolve this problem. They include (1) recording the program simultaneously as many times as the number of the family members who want to record it, (2) checking with each of the family members directly if he or she agrees to erase it and (3) each of the family members inputs information telling that he or she has already watched the program and hence agrees to erase it by means of a button of the remote control unit.
However, (1) is inefficient from the viewpoint of effective use of the recording medium because the same program needs to be recorded as many times as the number of the family members and (2) can be time consuming because it is necessary to check each of the family members who share the same video recorder if he or she agrees to erase the program, whereas (3) is cumbersome because each of the family members has to operate the button of the remote control unit.
Additionally, there are video recorders that can reproduce a program from a point of interruption if the ongoing reproduction of the program is interrupted at the point. But, then, if some other person operates the video recorder for reproduction, the program interrupted by the previous user may be reproduced from the point of interruption. If the video recorder is so devised that different users can select the point from which a program can be reproduced, operating related one or more than one related buttons of the remote control unit will be a cumbersome operation.
Thus, there is a demand for an information processing apparatus and an information processing method for recognizing individual users when any of them operates a video recorder to reproduce a television program and watch it on the display screen of a television receiving set or the like and automatically reproducing the program to display it on the display screen for the recognized user.
Patent Document 1 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. H6-084032) describes a viewing monitoring method of a television receiving set for periodically scanning the viewable range of a television receiving set by means of a distance sensor arranged near the television receiving set and monitoring the presence or absence of a viewer in the viewable range according to the output of the distance sensor and the output of the distance sensor obtained in advance by a sensing operation of the distance sensor when there was no viewer in the viewable range.
Patent Document 2 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. H2-120987) describes a method of monitoring the presence or absence of a viewer of a television receiving set by means of an image recognition process conducted on the image obtained by an image sensing operation of a two-dimensional image sensor in the viewable range of the television receiving set.